Lil Squeaky

Apollo Allen Ailus, known professionally by his stage name Lil Squeaky, is a Finnish-American rapper, singer, songwriter, and producer. He initially gained notoriety for his extensive discography on SoundCloud, before signing to Flex Entertainment. He is best known for singles such as "Menace," "Menace 2," "Ok," and the song "Nipples," which peaked at number seven on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100.

Early Life
Apollo Allen Ailus was born on December 16, 2002, in Helsinki, Finland, as the second child of four. His mother is from Bangladesh, and was adopted by a wealthy Finnish couple at the age of seven. His father is a pure-blooded Finnish man. In May 2004, Ailus and his family moved to the US state of Maryland, before relocating to Falls Church, Virginia. They later moved to Fairfax, Virginia in 2006, and finally to Alexandria, Virginia in 2017. He has two younger brothers and one older sister. One of his brothers is fellow rapper and producer .jitters.

Career Beginnings (2017-2018)
Ailus officially began his music career during the summer of 2017, and a friend of his suggested the stage name Lil Squeaky. He purchased a Blue Snowball Ice microphone in September of 2017, which he has used for his entire music career. Squeaky's first recorded song was only sent to a few of his friends.

SoundCloud/Independent (2018-2019)
Squeaky released his first single, "Fake Lil Squeaky," in May of 2018. The song was a diss track aimed at fellow Virginia rapper Lil Crisp, whom Squeaky accused of copying him for being another "Indian" rapper from the same area. Squeaky would fire several more subtle shots at Lil Crisp throughout his career. The song was met with positive reception from local listeners, who applauded Squeaky for rapping an entire verse with an Indian accent.

Squeaky released his second single, "Long Armed Niggy," in June 2018, with guest verses from Chief Teef, M Sizzle, and A$APJESUS, all local rappers from northern Virginia. The song was another diss track, this time towards a close friend of Lil Crisp named Arrington. The song's instrumental was the vaporwave song "Resonance" by Home. Shortly after releasing this single, Squeaky announced his debut mixtape, Squeakerton: The Chronicle. He then released two more singles: "Maxo Donk" in June, and "Gayer Than Me" in August. In July, he announced that he intended to release a studio album titled Professional Murderer.

On September 21, 2018, Squeaky released Squeakerton: The Chronicle, which received positive reviews for its lighthearted nature and humorous lyrics.

In October of that year, Squeaky heard a preview of Lil Crisp and Chief Teef's upcoming song "I Beat My Meat With My Left Hand." Because the single was being delayed so much, Squeaky released a pseudo-diss track, entitled "I Beat My Meat With My Right Hand." It quickly became one of his most popular and acclaimed songs to date, and would end up being the lead single for his debut album, Professional Murderer.

Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 1, Deadass: Ricky's Last Stand, and the "death" of Lil Squeaky (2018)
In October 2018, Squeaky released the EP Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 1, which was much more polarizing, as many listeners didn't like the extremely distorted sound of the project. On November 2, 2018, Squeaky released his second mixtape, Deadass: Ricky's Last Stand, which received mixed reviews as opinions varied regarding the often screamed vocals and the distortion on several tracks.

Shortly after releasing Deadass, Squeaky released an experimental single titled "god loves me (an artpiece)." The controversial single sampled Celine Dion's "All By Myself," as well as a hitler speech, and contained over a minute of echoing chants by Lil Squeaky, and would also be included on Professional Murderer.

Later on in November of that same year, Ailus took to Lil Squeaky's official Instagram account to announce that Lil Squeaky had "passed away." At the beginning of 2019, however, Lil Squeaky was "revived." Ailus has stated that Lil Squeaky was "killed off" because he didn't feel like making music anymore, and wanted to create some sort of plot line that would allow him to distance himself from the Lil Squeaky persona. However, he became willing to make more music, and thus he began to work on two of his most iconic and praised projects to date.

Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 2 & Professional Murderer (2019)
Squeaky released the mixtape Jews in the Ghetto, vol. 2 on February 10, 2019, making it his first musical release of the year. The mixtape received acclaim from critics for its more refined sound compared to his other music, his faster flows, and the increasingly playful and witty nature of Squeaky's delivery and lyrics.

On April 9, 2019, Lil Squeaky released his debut studio album, Professional Murderer. The twenty-track, hour-long album was meant to display an experimental side to Lil Squeaky. The album ended up receiving very positive overall reviews, with many listeners applauding the over-the-top ridiculous humor that Squeaky would employ, as well as the album's sheer variety of sounds, though some criticized the album for its length.

XXX Biggie T
Squeaky wouldn't release any more music independently or exclusively on SoundCloud after Professional Murderer under the Lil Squeaky moniker. However, in May of 2019, Squeaky created another SoundCloud account named XXX Biggie T, which he intended to be headed in a different direction from his previous releases, inspired mostly by DaBaby, but with some songs that were more similar to his older music. He released two singles under this moniker: "Slant," and "POOPA," the latter of which featured a fake guest verse from 6ix9ine, the same verse that was used for the hook on 6ix9ine's infamous song "SESE." Squeaky would not release any more music under the moniker XXX Biggie T, but the account would later be used as his second account after running out of upload time on his original account.

Signing to Flex Entertainment and "Menace" (2019)
Lil Squeaky joined the Flex Entertainment Fan Server on Discord on the same day it was announced on the Flex Entertainment YouTube channel. He quickly gained a good reputation and became friends with several artists on the label, and was signed to the label on October 31, 2019.

In November, he released two of his most popular songs, and the songs that served as his breakthrough: "Menace" featuring Lil Mosquito Disease and Big Lil, and the sequel "Menace 2," featuring Lil Mosquito Disease, Big Lil, and beetlebat. The songs were parodies of NLE Choppa's songs "Shotta Flow" and "Shotta Flow 2," respectively, centered around Squeaky's infamous phrase "I am a menace, I am a- I am a menace." The songs both charted on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100, which was created months after they reached their peak popularity, and have very often returned to the chart due to their staying power. Menace became Squeaky's first song to reach 1,000 views on YouTube, while Menace 2 became his first song to reach 1,000 plays on Spotify.

"Ok", Squeaky Sings the Classics, Squeaky 4 President, and God Mode (2020)
Squeaky's first release of 2020 was the single "Ok," which was produced by Zed Elh and Kid Phang. Around this time, Squeaky announced that he would soon be releasing his second studio album, Menace 2 Society. During several rehearsals for a local production of Sherlock Holmes, in which he played the villain, Moriarty, he would write lyrics while not being called up on stage. He had finished over half of the original tracklist, when he began to scrap many of the songs. He then stated that the final tracklist contained none of the original songs, and that he would potentially release the unreleased songs on a compilation album in the future.

Squeaky's first musical release of the year came in April, when he released his long-awaited live album "Squeaky Sings the Classics," and hour-long covers album recorded in two separate Discord calls with numerous Flex Entertainment members. It was released independently on SoundCloud and on his YouTube channel.

Squeaky's first project released under Flex Entertainment was the EP Squeaky 4 President, which was released on April 17, 2020. The EP saw Squeaky going in a more low-key and somewhat more serious direction, despite the plethora of overly sexual and humorous lyrics on the EP. This EP was met with generally positive reviews, with many praising how catchy the songs were and many applauding Squeaky for his flows, funny lyrics, and beat selection, while others heavily disliked the absurdity of many of the lyrics, and labeled the EP as being generic. Nonetheless, the EP spawned the charting single "Deaf," but more significantly spawned the hit single "Nipples," which was praised by many for its catchy hook, the variety of flows used by Squeaky on the song, the infectious beat produced by HudsonBeats, and the humorous, albeit extremely sexual lyrics. The song has since peaked at number 7 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100, becoming his most successful song on the chart thus far. The music video for the song was released on June 22, 2020. A remix featuring Big Baller B, Lil Mosquito Disease, Lil Toy Yoda, Lil Joof, and Yung Lambo will be featured on the upcoming Flex Entertainment compilation album, Flex Gang, vol. 2. Another song by Lil Squeaky, titled "Moonshine," with guest appearances by Lil Toy Yoda and Lil Joof, and an instrumental sampling "I Can't Go For That" by Daryl Hall and John Oates, will also be featured on Flex Gang, vol. 2.

Squeaky has stated that the Menace 2 Society album has now been titled God Mode, and will feature songs headed in a more serious direction, still containing songs with humorous lyrics, but also several completely serious songs, as well as much better mastering. A remastered and shortened version of "Nipples" is featured in the song's music video, and will be included on God Mode.

Albums

 * Professional Murderer  (2019)
 * God Mode (2020)

Mixtapes

 * Squeakerton: The Chronicle (2018)
 * Deadass: Ricky's Last Stand (2018)

EPs

 * Jews in the Ghetto, Vol. 1 (2018)
 * Jews in the Ghetto, Vol. 2 (2019)
 * SPOOKY HOURS (2019)
 * Squeaky 4 President (2020)

Live Albums

 * Squeaky Sings the Classics (2020)